The Domestic Abuse Bill introduces important measures which will help to raise awareness of domestic abuse and will go some way to providing additional support to domestic abuse victims and helping to challenge perpetrator’s behaviour. It is a positive step in the right direction.
Key messages
- The Domestic Abuse Bill introduces important measures which will help to raise awareness of domestic abuse and will go some way to providing additional support to domestic abuse victims and helping to challenge perpetrator’s behaviour. It is a positive step in the right direction.
- Alongside the Bill’s focus on crisis interventions and criminal justice, tackling domestic abuse requires a cross-government response incorporating health, housing and education. We need an equal focus on, and funding for, prevention and early intervention measures that aims to prevent domestic abuse happening in the first place.
- In addition to the measures in the Bill, the Government should provide long-term and sustained investment in early intervention and prevention programmes and wider community-based support. This should include investment in perpetrator programmes, which is why we are calling on the Government to introduce a National Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Strategy.
- This legislation comes at a time when, even prior to the eventual long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, local government’s services, particularly children’s services, were already facing unprecedented demand.
- The funding that the Government has announced in order to tackle domestic abuse during COVID-19 is welcome. We now need a long-term settlement as these one-off, short-term funds do not provide consistency or sustainability in the sector. Long-term, sustainable funding can help transform the response to domestic abuse.